12.051
Pancharatra: Bhishma recognizes and worships Krishna as Lord Vishnu. Krishna requests Bhishma to impart the vast knowledge he has to Yudhishthira.
Vaiśampāyana said.
After hearing the words of the wise Vasudeva, Bhishma slightly raised his face and, with joined palms, spoke as follows.
Salutations to you, O Lord Viṣṇu, who is both the origin and dissolution of the worlds. Truly, you are the creator, Hṛṣīkeśa, the destroyer, and the unconquered one.
O Universal Creator, salutations to you! You are the soul and origin of the universe. You are liberation, existing beyond the five elements.
Salutations to you in all three worlds and beyond them. O Lord of Yoga, salutations to you; for you are truly the supreme refuge of all.
O best among men, because of the words you have spoken as I have taken refuge in you, I now see your divine forms indeed in all three paths.
And that, I see in reality your eternal form. The seven paths of the wind, of infinite brilliance, are restrained by you.
O goddess, your head pervades the heavens, your feet the earth; your arms the directions, the sun is your eye, and Indra is established in your strength.
We perceive your imperishable form, yellow-robed and radiant like the flax flower, as if it were a cloud adorned with lightning.
O lotus-eyed one, for the devotee who has surrendered to you and seeks victory, meditate upon that path which is the highest good, O best of the gods.
Vāsudeva said.
O king, because you truly possess supreme devotion to me, O best of men, therefore I have revealed your divine form to you.
O King, I do not reveal myself to the non-devoted, nor to the insincere even if devoted, nor to the undisciplined, O Bharata.
But you are my devotee, always established in sincerity, constantly engaged in self-restraint, austerity, truth, and charity, and pure.
O Bhīṣma, by your own austerity you are worthy to see me, O king. Indeed, the worlds have come to you, from which there is no return.
O chief of the Kurus, fifty-six days remain of your life. Then, O Bhishma, by the auspicious arising of the fruits of your actions, you will attain release from the body.
These Vasus, the gods, having descended in their celestial chariots, all like blazing fire, invisible, are watching you, as you approach the log like a water-insect.
O best among men, when the sun has entered the blessed northern direction by the force of time, you will go to those worlds which, having attained, the wise do not return from.
O Bhīṣma, when you depart for that world, all knowledge will entirely perish, O hero. Therefore, all have indeed assembled near you for the discussion of dharma.
Speak to Yudhishthira, whose wisdom is afflicted by the grief of relatives and who is intent on truth, a word endowed with dharma and artha, by which you may dispel his mortal grief.
